Module III.

Vocalization and Vocal Tones

 Lesson 1.
The Production of 

Vocal Sound Signals
The Human Vocal Tract
The Production of Speech Sound Signals
 Lesson 2.
The Perception of 

Sound Stimuli
The Difference between the Physics of Sound Signals
and What We Hear
 Lesson 3.
The Perception of Intensity
(Loudness) in Empirical Terms
Sampling a Speech Database
Loudness in Empirical Terms
 Lesson 4.
The Perception of Frequency (Pitch)
in Empirical Terms
The “Missing Fundamental” in Empirical Terms
The “Pitch Shift of the Residue” in Empirical Terms
 Lesson 5.
Relationship of All This to Music
The Vocal Tract has All the Characteristics of a Musical
Instrument
 The Argument for Our
Sense of Tonality Having Arisen from
Experience with Human Vocal Signals
• Human vocalization is the major source of tonal
sound signals in our environment
• These signals covey information about size, gender,
emotional state and individual identity
• Once language develops, tones can also convey
lexical information
 The Main Points
• Theevolution of our tonal sense comes from speech
and its biological/social value
• Human vocalization generates tones in a way that is
now well understood
• Aswith other sound signals, what we hear does not
accord with physics
• Evidently
what we hear is based on accumulated
experience
Next time: How vocalization is related to
understanding music and its appeal.